On October 23, at the 2025 China International Mining Conference, the Ministry of Natural Resources released the “China Mineral Resources Report (2025)” (hereinafter referred to as the “Report”). The Report shows that in 2024, China’s investment in geological exploration reached 115.994 billion yuan, marking positive growth for the fourth consecutive year. Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan, cumulative funding for mineral exploration has approached 450 billion yuan; nationwide, 150 new mineral deposits were discovered.

The report highlights the new developments in China’s policies and regulations on mineral resources since 2024, the latest progress of the new round of strategic actions for breakthroughs in mineral exploration, emerging trends in the development, utilization, and protection of mineral resources as well as in the green development of the mining industry, and new achievements in scientific and technological innovation and international cooperation in the field of mineral resources.

In 2024, China continued to deepen reforms in the management of mineral resources, further strengthening and improving the governance system for mineral resources. The newly revised “Mineral Resources Law of the People’s Republic of China” has introduced a series of innovative institutional provisions focusing on safeguarding national mineral resource security, effectively protecting the legitimate rights and interests of mining right holders, fostering a fair, transparent, and predictable market competition environment, and advancing ecological civilization construction in a comprehensive manner. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Natural Resources has stepped up its policy support, comprehensively strengthened planning guidance and regulatory control over mineral resources, deepened geological exploration, mineral resource reserve management, market-oriented allocation of mining rights, management of geological data, and tax and fee reforms. It has also continuously optimized policies to guide foreign investment, laying a solid institutional foundation for enhancing resource security capabilities and promoting high-quality development of the mining industry.

The report shows that China’s new round of strategic actions for breakthroughs in mineral exploration has achieved significant progress, further strengthening the country’s mineral resource base. A series of major breakthroughs have been made in key metallogenic belts and large oil-and-gas basins: In terms of oil and gas resources, numerous major breakthroughs have been achieved in new strata, new areas, and new types of deposits in basins such as the Tarim Basin, Junggar Basin, and Sichuan Basin. In non-oil-and-gas mineral resources, substantial progress has been made in the exploration of bulk minerals including copper, iron, and phosphate ores, with significant increases in resource reserves. Progress has also been made in the exploration of strategic minerals such as lithium, zirconium, hafnium, rare earth elements, and helium gas. Moreover, the resource advantages of minerals like tungsten, molybdenum, antimony, fluorite, and graphite have been further consolidated. In 2024, 150 new mineral deposits were discovered nationwide, including 49 large-scale, 54 medium-scale, and 47 small-scale deposits. Among these newly discovered deposits, the top-ranked mineral types are common fluorite (9 sites), lithium ore (8 sites), gold ore (8 sites), and iron ore (8 sites).

Fixed-asset investment in the mining industry has grown for four consecutive years, and the supply of major mineral products has remained stable and steadily increasing, making an important contribution to maintaining the stability of global industrial and supply chains. In 2024, China’s fixed-asset investment in the mining industry continued its upward trend, increasing by 10.5% over the previous year. Production of ten nonferrous metals continued to rise, while output of energy minerals such as coal, crude oil, and natural gas reached new record highs.

Promote green development in the mining industry and actively implement the United Nations’ “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” In 2024, China fully implemented green exploration, driving upgrades in technological equipment and demonstrating their practical applications. We accelerated the construction of green mines, refined standards and regulations, and improved the management system through a comprehensive cataloging approach. We also promoted the comprehensive conservation and integrated utilization of mineral resources, issuing and implementing “three-rate” standards for 125 types of minerals, bringing our level of integrated mineral resource utilization to an internationally leading position. We further refined the legal and institutional framework for incentives and constraints on ecological restoration in mining areas, steadily advancing the ecological restoration of historically abandoned mining sites, and promoting improvements in both the ecological conditions of mining areas and the surrounding living environments. We strengthened surveys, monitoring, and assessments of ecological restoration in mining areas, advanced the development of technical standards for mine ecological restoration, and released a series of exemplary cases of ecological restoration in operating mines.

We will intensify scientific and technological innovation in the field of mineral resources to enhance our capacity to ensure resource security. In 2024, China issued and implemented 10 national standards and 85 industry standards in the mineral resources sector. The major science and technology special project on deep-earth exploration has been officially approved and launched, and the international large-scale science initiative “Deep-Time Digital Earth” has also been set in motion. Various science and technology innovation platforms are focusing on basic theoretical research, key technology development, and engineering R&D, actively supporting major strategic tasks in the mineral resources sector, such as the new round of strategic actions for breakthroughs in mineral exploration.

Meanwhile, China is strengthening international cooperation in the mining sector to promote the prosperity of the global mining market. We continue to engage in diverse forms of international exchanges and cooperation in the field of mineral resources, actively maintaining close ties with countries rich in energy resources and relevant international organizations. Through international platforms such as the China International Mining Conference, we are advancing practical cooperation in geology and mineral resources, further solidifying our friendly and cooperative relations. We are also easing market access for foreign investment, continuously raising the level of openness in the mining sector.